Friday's NCAA recap of Round 1 games
After favorites went 12-4 against the spread Thursday, things started out different on Friday as all four underdogs in the early games grabbed early leads. It appeared like we would have the NCAA tournament we've all come to know and love. And in a lot of ways we did, especially the sub-regional in Tampa Bay, Fla., where all four lower-numbered seeds won as underdogs.
Back to the early-morning games (at least it was early morning here in Las Vegas with the four games tipping off in the 9 o'clock hour, the dogs covered three of those games, including Miami-Fla., which ended up going off as a 1-point underdog vs. St. Mary's-California despite being a No. 7 vs. a No. 10 and being a favorite most of the week. The Hurricanes went on to win 78-64.
Davidson was the only chalk to cover in a 82-76 victory vs. Gonzaga, though that was also a case of the No. 10 seeded Davidson squad being favored over No. 7 Gonzaga. American covered the 17-point spread vs. Tennessee in a 72-57 loss. But the most exciting game of all turned out to be No. 5 Drake vs. No. 12 Western Kentucky.. It didn't look that way most of the game as WKU built a 15-point lead in the second half and looked like it would cruise to the upset, but Drake stormed back. Western Kentucky bettors in Las Vegas sports books were cheering for anything for overtime as the Hilltoppers were covering the 4-point spread, but they went on to win 101-99 in overtime anyway. The over went 3-1 in those early games with the Tennessee-American game being the only exception.
In the early afternoon games, however, favorites bounced back by covering the first three games to go final (Butler over South Alabama, Georgetown over Maryland-Baltimore County and Texas over Austin Peay), but then the big upset happened when No. 13 seed San Diego not only covered the 12-point spread vs. No. 4 UConn but took them to overtime and beat them outright, 70-69. Overs and unders were split 2-2.
Heading into the night sessions, favorites were still ahead 16-8 for the tournament after splitting the early Friday games 4-4. In totals wagering, overs were 13-10-1 after going 8-7-1 on Thursday and 5-3 in Friday's early games.
In the 4 p.m. starts (again, we're talking VFV Time, aka PDT, adjust for your own time zone), favorites and covered three of the four games with North Carolina routing Mount St. Mary's, Oklahoma beating St. Joseph's and Mississippi St. outlasting Oregon, and the lone upset being No. 13 seed Siena, a 7-point underdog vs. No. 4 seed Vanderbilt, winning wire to wire.
In the late games, underdogs started barking again as Texas-Arlington covered the 25-point spread (barely) in a 24-point loss to No. 1 seed Memphis and Arkansas and Villanova pulled outright upsets of Indiana and Clemson, respectively.
Through the end of Friday (when games were split 8-8 against the spread by favorites and underdogs), faves were 20-12 ATS with overs still being the way to go in totals wagering at 18-13-1.
Back to the early-morning games (at least it was early morning here in Las Vegas with the four games tipping off in the 9 o'clock hour, the dogs covered three of those games, including Miami-Fla., which ended up going off as a 1-point underdog vs. St. Mary's-California despite being a No. 7 vs. a No. 10 and being a favorite most of the week. The Hurricanes went on to win 78-64.
Davidson was the only chalk to cover in a 82-76 victory vs. Gonzaga, though that was also a case of the No. 10 seeded Davidson squad being favored over No. 7 Gonzaga. American covered the 17-point spread vs. Tennessee in a 72-57 loss. But the most exciting game of all turned out to be No. 5 Drake vs. No. 12 Western Kentucky.. It didn't look that way most of the game as WKU built a 15-point lead in the second half and looked like it would cruise to the upset, but Drake stormed back. Western Kentucky bettors in Las Vegas sports books were cheering for anything for overtime as the Hilltoppers were covering the 4-point spread, but they went on to win 101-99 in overtime anyway. The over went 3-1 in those early games with the Tennessee-American game being the only exception.
In the early afternoon games, however, favorites bounced back by covering the first three games to go final (Butler over South Alabama, Georgetown over Maryland-Baltimore County and Texas over Austin Peay), but then the big upset happened when No. 13 seed San Diego not only covered the 12-point spread vs. No. 4 UConn but took them to overtime and beat them outright, 70-69. Overs and unders were split 2-2.
Heading into the night sessions, favorites were still ahead 16-8 for the tournament after splitting the early Friday games 4-4. In totals wagering, overs were 13-10-1 after going 8-7-1 on Thursday and 5-3 in Friday's early games.
In the 4 p.m. starts (again, we're talking VFV Time, aka PDT, adjust for your own time zone), favorites and covered three of the four games with North Carolina routing Mount St. Mary's, Oklahoma beating St. Joseph's and Mississippi St. outlasting Oregon, and the lone upset being No. 13 seed Siena, a 7-point underdog vs. No. 4 seed Vanderbilt, winning wire to wire.
In the late games, underdogs started barking again as Texas-Arlington covered the 25-point spread (barely) in a 24-point loss to No. 1 seed Memphis and Arkansas and Villanova pulled outright upsets of Indiana and Clemson, respectively.
Through the end of Friday (when games were split 8-8 against the spread by favorites and underdogs), faves were 20-12 ATS with overs still being the way to go in totals wagering at 18-13-1.
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